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Bartram’s Garden

MARK DION: “Travels of William Bartram- Reconsidered”
Artist/Archeologist/Flea Marketer/Naturalist
MARK DION Heads South to Retrace the Journey of William Bartram

Travels of William Bartram — Reconsidered will examine the history and culture of 18th century American naturalists, John (1699-1777) and his son William Bartram (1739-1823). Using their travel journals, drawings, and maps, Mark Dion is retracing the journey of William Bartram, in particular, to northern Florida where, like Bartram, he is collecting things both natural and unnatural, making drawings and paintings of them, examining them, and, in keeping with his long standing interest in mail art, is mailing them back to Bartram’s Gardens on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The treasures that Dion finds will be installed in the historic home of John Bartram, where they will be displayed in cabinets built especially to house the collections.

Dion’s journey is the quintessential exploratory road trip: part Lewis and Clark, part Jack Kerouac, part Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and part Borat. And you can interact with him online as he parallels William Bartram’s journeys. Armed with letters of introduction, in the manner of the Bartram’s in 18th century Philadelphia, Dion is using a variety of means of transportation and is meeting like-minded individuals on his travels, which commenced in Charleston, South Carolina. John Bartram Societies dot the southeast, and in the areas where the Bartrams traveled, they are particularly prevalent.

Dion’s journey started with a send-off from Bartram’s in mid-November, but his travels can be followed on-line at:

http://WWW.MARKDIONSBARTRAMSTRAVELS.COM where monthly video chats, video of daily travels, city stops, photo galleries, and audio along with blogs, Mark’s handwritten journals, drawings and maps that pinpoint where he is will provide a totally unique experience with the artist. From the website you can visit the lush gardens of Bartram’s online and interact with botanists, curators and others.

The exhibition “Mark Dion: Travels of William Bartram — Reconsidered” is curated by independent curator, Julie Courtney. It will open June 20, 2008 at Bartram’s Garden coinciding with the Americans for the Arts Conference in Philadelphia.

This project has been supported by a grant from the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative and the Marketing Innovation Program, both programs of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

http://www.bartramsgarden.org
http://www.markdionsbartramstravels.com

Stedelijk Museum

ANDY WARHOL
OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS
12 October 2007 - 13 January 2008
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Oosterdokskade 5
Amsterdam
T +31 (0)20 5732911
info@stedelijk.nl

http://www.stedelijk.nl

Forty years after the first major European Warhol exhibition in Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum has organised an exhibition to shed new light on the oeuvre of the celebrated Pop Art master. With film, photography, video and famous icons ranging from Marilyn Monroe, Mao and Campbell Soup Cans, Andy Warhol — Other Voices, Other Rooms is a window onto the artistic thinking of this trendsetting artist, revealing the ‘conceptual soul’ of
his work.

In his art, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) merged the public with the personal and glamour and stardom with everyday life. He also predicted that everyone would have their fifteen minutes of fame, virtually predicting the coming of Idols and YouTube. With 27 films, rarely screened video tapes and audio recordings of Warhol himself, and extraordinary archive material, this exhibition zooms in on the focus of Warhol’s work: voyeurism, the mundane, the individual and the eradication of distinctions between high and low culture.

Visitors literally receive a ‘red carpet welcome’ to the exhibition, treated to a barrage of paparazzi-style camera flashes as their entrance is photographed. Music by The Velvet Underground, the band Warhol launched from his famous Factory, accompanies visitors as they roam through a film landscape that includes Screen Tests, Sleep, Blow Job, The Chelsea Girls, Kitchen and Mrs. Warhol. These films were Warhol’s experiments — secluded behind the camera, he shows people’s behaviour in all types of situations, without intervening, using time and observation as his ingredients. This land-scape leads to the poetic installation Silver Clouds, which, in contrast to the films is dreamy and calm.

The heart of the exhibition is the Warhol Cosmos, which highlights the master’s thinking and way of working. In addition to famous icons, the Factory Diaries, in which Warhol captured his life in the sixties, seventies and eighties with an imperturbable eye for detail, and objects from the Time Capsules play a significant role. Once again, drawings, photos and rare archive material are presented alongside audio fragments of luminaries such as Edie Sedgwick, Mick Jagger and Man Ray.

The final section of the exhibition synchronously presents all the material that Warhol produced for television — which was the latest medium in his lifetime. Now, he projects his voyeurism onto everyone, stars and ordinary people alike, in the medium that seemed best suited to the job. Just as he did in his magazine Interview Warhol also had a keen eye for detail and trivia, with which he exercised a specific influence on the development of both media. In this section, the museum created The Studio Room, where visitors can take a Factory-like screen test.

The exhibition is curated by guest curator Eva Meyer-Hermann, in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie museums of Pittsburgh, and is on view at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm from 9 February to 4 May 2008. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue (NAi Publishers), the Andy Warhol Newspaper and a special issue of magazine Blend. The museum is offering various activities in The Andy Warhol Side Show — see http://www.stedelijk.nl for a complete range. Membership of the Andy Warhol Club provides unlimited free entrance to the exhibition and to parties, Factory Nights, film screenings and more. See also: http://www.andywarholclub.nl

ARTECONTEXTO art, culture
and new media

Issue 16
Dossier: The teaching of visual arts
(Luis Camnitzer, Justo Pastor Mellado, Armando Montesinos, Sara Diamond and Daniel Canogar) + Ibon Aranberri and What is Happening in Portugal? + Cybercontext + Info + Books + International Reviews
ARTECONTEXTO is a quarterly publication in Spanish and English.
Distributed around the world in specialised bookstores.
Publisher and Managing Editor:
Alicia Murría

http://www.artecontexto.com

The teaching of visual arts is the issue we examine in this dossier, through the writing of renowned artists, teachers and theoreticians, such as Luis Camnitzer, Justo Pastor Mellado, Armando Montesinos, Sara Diamond and Daniel Canogar. They all emphasise the stagnation prevalent in the ways of conveying knowledge relating to art, in both practical and theoretical terms, and express the need for an urgent reform in schools and universities, as well as suggesting new models. In the centre pages of the dossier, What is Happening in Portugal? outlines a general view of the current situation in this country, through its creators, institutions and galleries. We present an extensive review of the work by the Basque artist Ibon Aranberri. The regular sections: Cybercontext (an analysis of websites that may be of interest), Reviews and Info provide a selection of the most relevant international exhibitions and events.